No sex, please

[Mary Jo Neyer]

No: HPFGUIDX 83498

I have been reading with interest all the discussions about high schools in Britain and theU.S.  I live in the midwest, Ohio, and my children attend private R.C. schools which are college prep.  The course work is challenging, and the schools are very expensive for us, with our 9 children.  I have often wondered if it is a similar difficulty for the Weasleys to pay for their children's education at Hogwarts, and that is one reason why they are so short of money.  Our boys attend all boys schools and the girls attend all girls schools, but they all live at home, rather than board.  This past spring we hosted a German high school girl for a month, and then my 16 year old daughter visited a German school.  There were several German high school students visiting, here in the U.S. at both the boys and girls schools and our particular student told me that some of her German friends were very disappointed, because they thought that American high schools would be like what they had seen on TV.  Instead, the American kids were busy with studies, jobs and after school activities.  

My 15 year old freshman in high school, who is about Harry's age, is very clueless when it comes to girls.  I am working hard just to teach him proper table manners, and sometimes I have to remind him to take a shower or change his dirty shirt.  My 13 year old, on the other hand, is very fashion conscience and showers every day.  But from what I have observed these kids tend to do things in groups:  they have their theatre group and the band group etc., but I don't see a lot of pairing off at this stage.The description of Harry and his friends fits very well what I have seen with my teens.

Mary Jo

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Thanks